CHAPTER XXIV
BY TELEGRAPH
The man stared at the girls as if he could not believe what Betty hadsaid. A strange look came over his face.
"If this is a joke, please drop it," he began. "I am almost crazy as itis. I don't know what I am doing. I--"
"It isn't a joke!" declared Betty. "It may sound strange, but it's alltrue. We did find your bill, under the railroad bridge in Deepdale. It'sin my father's safe now."
"That's great--it's fine. I'd given it up long ago. I advertised, and putup a notice in the post-office, and--"
"Yes, my mother wrote me about it," said Betty. "But she did not giveyour address, for some naughty boys tore it off the notice."
"And do you really think someone tried to rob you?" asked Mollie.
"I don't know what to think," frankly admitted the young man. "There wasa boy in the same car--"
"He never took it!" exclaimed Grace.
"How do you know?" the young man asked.
"Because we met that boy, and he told us just how you acted when youdiscovered your loss. Besides, that boy is thoroughly honest."
"Say, is there anything about my case that you girls don't know?" askedthe young man with a smile. "But before I go any further, perhaps I hadbetter introduce myself--"
"Oh, we know your name!" exclaimed Betty.
"You do? And you never saw me before?"
"You forget that your name was signed to the notice in thepost-office--Mr. Blackford," and Betty blushed.
"That's so. But I don't know your names, and, if it's not tooimpertinent, after the service you have rendered me--"
"We'll tell you--certainly," interrupted Betty, and she introducedherself and her chums.
"I suppose you will wonder how I played the part of a tramp," said theyoung man. "I will tell you why. I was almost out of my mind, and Iimagined that by going around looking ragged I might pick up some news ofmy lost money from the tramps along the railroad."
Then he told of how he had started to write a letter, stating he couldnot buy the business he was after, and had then torn the letter up,because he still hoped to find the bill and get control of the business.
"And we found part of that letter," cried Betty. "We tried to find you,too, but you had disappeared."
"Indeed. I know how that happened--I took a short cut through the woods."
"The chocolate is ready!" called Grace, a little later. "Won't you havesome, Mr. Blackford?"
"Thank you, I will. Say, but you young ladies are all right. Do you dothis sort of thing often?"
"Well, we like to be outdoors," explained Betty, as she handed him a cupof the hot beverage. "We like to take long walks, but this is the firsttime we ever went on a tour like this."
"And we've had the _best_ time!" exclaimed Mollie.
"And _such_ adventures," added Grace. "Will you have more chocolate?"
"No, thank you. That was fine. Now I must try and get dry. But I'm usedto this sort of thing. I'm from the West, and I've been in more thanone flood."
"You have!" cried Amy, and the others knew of what she was thinking--herown case. "I hope he didn't have the same sort of trouble I had, though,"she thought.
"Perhaps if you were to walk along your clothes would dry quicker," saidBetty. "And if you went on to Judgeville you might be able to get atailor to press them."
"Thanks, I believe I will. That is, if you don't mind being seen withsuch a disreputable figure as I cut."
"Of course we don't mind!" declared Betty. "We are getting rathertravel-stained ourselves."
"Our trunks will be waiting for us at your cousin's house, Betty," spokeGrace, for it was there they were to spend the last night of their nownearly finished tour. "We can freshen up," went on the girl who lovedcandy, "and enter into town in style. I hope mamma put in my new gown andanother pair of shoes."
"Grace Ford! You don't mean that you'd put on a new dress to finish upthis walking excursion in, do you?" asked Mollie.
"Certainly I shall. We don't know who we might meet as we get intoDeepdale."
"We will hardly get in before dusk," said Betty. "From Judgeville thereis the longest stretch of all, nearly twenty-two miles."
"Oh, dear!" groaned Grace. "We'll never do it. Why did you arrange forsuch a long walk, Betty?"
"I couldn't help it. There were no other relatives available, and Icouldn't have any made to order. There was no stopping place between hereand home."
"Oh, I dare say I can stand it," murmured Grace. "But I guess I won'twear my new shoes in that case. Twenty-two miles!"
"It is quite a stretch," said Mr. Blackford.
He helped Grace put away the alcohol stove, and the cups in which thechocolate had been served. They were washed in the little stream, andwould be cleansed again at the house of Betty's cousin.
"You haven't asked us when we are going to give you that five hundreddollar bill," said Mollie, as they started for Judgeville.
"Well," spoke Mr. Blackford, with a laugh, "I didn't want to seem tooanxious. I knew that it was safe where you had put it, Miss Nelson," andhe looked at Betty. "Besides, I have been without it so long now that itseems almost as if I never had it. And from all the good it is going todo me, perhaps I might be better off without it now."
"We didn't exactly understand what you meant by the note you wrote,"said Betty.
"Well, I'll tell you how that was," he said, frankly. "You see, I wasleft considerable money by a rich relative, but I had bad luck. Maybe Ididn't have a good business head, either. Anyhow, I lost sum after sum ininvestments that didn't pan out, and in businesses that failed. I gotdown to my last big bill, and then I heard of this little business Icould get control of in New York.
"I said I'd make that my last venture, and to remind myself howdesperate my chances were I just jotted down those words, and pinned thenote to the bill. Then I must have gotten excited in my dream. I knowjust before I fell asleep I kept taking the bill out of the pocketbook,and looking at it to make sure I had it. I might have done that whilehalf asleep, and it blew out of the window. That's how it probablyhappened, and you girls picked up the money. I can't thank you enough.But I'm afraid it will come to me too late to use as I had intended,"the man went on, with a sigh.
"Why?" asked Betty.
"Because the option on the business I was going to buy expires atmidnight to-night, and as you say the five hundred dollars is inDeepdale, I don't see how I am going to get it in time to be ofany service."
"Isn't that too bad!" cried Amy.
"And we might have brought it with us," said Mollie.
"Only we didn't think it would be wise to carry that sum with us," spokeGrace. "And we never thought the owner of it would jump off a railroadtrestle right in front of us," she added, with a laugh.
"No, of course not," admitted Mr. Blackford, drily. "You couldn't foreseethat. Neither could I. Well, it can't be helped. Maybe it will be for thebest in the end. I'll have the five hundred, anyhow, and perhaps I canfind some other business. But I did want to get this one on which I hadthe option. However, there's no help for it."
A sudden light of resolve came into Betty's eyes. She confronted theowner of the bill.
"There's no need for you to lose your option!" she exclaimed.
"But I don't see how I can get the money in time. I might if I had anairship; but to go to Deepdale, and then to New York with it, is out ofthe question."
"No!" cried Betty. "We can do it by telegraph! I've just thought of a wayout. You can take up that option yet, Mr. Blackford!"